


Don't You Cry No More

by anxious_soul



Series: Tony Stark-Centric Series [89]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awesome Phil Coulson, Broken Bones, But maybe not, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Disownment, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, Hurt Tony Stark, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Medical Inaccuracies, Protective Avengers, Protective Phil Coulson, Serious Injuries, The Avengers Are Good Bros, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, i researched broken ribs a whole lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:08:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26356966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anxious_soul/pseuds/anxious_soul
Summary: In which, Howard keeps his promise and Tony is no longer welcome as a Stark, luckily he's not alone.
Series: Tony Stark-Centric Series [89]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1126895
Comments: 12
Kudos: 192





	Don't You Cry No More

**Author's Note:**

> Bad Things Happen Prompt(s): Disowned by Family, Doesn’t Realise They’ve Been Injured,
> 
> A brief reference to Tony's age: he started High School at age 10-11 (typical starting age in US is 14-15); 12th grade he graduates at age 14 with a bunch of 18 yr olds; MIT 14-17.
> 
> I am currently trying (keyword being "trying") to write up the F one, but I'm struggling -in my defence, I literally move out of my house on Saturday and start university lol, little bit preoccupied at the minute! But I will try and write somewhat frequently, just it might be even slower than normal, I hope you understand :)

It had never been that bad before. Tony had always known that his father didn’t care for him. Didn’t love him. The neglect and abuse told him as much. His mother wasn’t as bad, she didn’t hit him or shout at him, threatening him with violence and words. That wasn’t to say she was good. She was neglectful and tended to forget about him altogether.

The only love Tony had ever known was from Jarvis, their butler, and his wife, Ana. Until he moved to high school three/four years too early, skipping Middle School all together and jumping into ninth grade as a tiny, scrawny ten-year-old; he was far too young to be in the high school, yet no one cared. Except for _them_. 

‘ _Them_ ’ being the Avengers, a group of misfit friends, who had been adopted by the very generous Phil Coulson, who was the Deputy Head of the school (and as many speculated, a possible government agent, how else could he afford to raise five teenagers?). They were called the Avengers because they avenged bullying victims by beating up the bullies. At first, they received a lot of beatings themselves because their team leader, Steve Rogers, was basically Tony’s height and build before puberty was _very_ kind to the boy. Tony started high school alongside the group and was immediately adopted by them; they protected him and showed him kindness that had almost been completely vacant from his life. Even Phil liked him!

Shaken from his thoughts, Tony grabbed his packed suitcase and bag, looked around his now barren room and hastily left Stark Manor. For good. 

**——LINE BREAK——**

Knocking on the door with a trembling hand that quickly latched back onto the backpack strap that was hooked over his right shoulder as he waited with a suitcase in his left. His body shook the whole time as worrying thoughts continued to flutter around in his head as the seconds drew on and he thought the worst. 

“Tony?” He’d been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t noticed the door open to reveal his tall and strong blond friend, 

“Steve,” was all he could whisper as he watched how the blue-eyed man took in his belongings and shaking form.

“Come on in, Tony,” the eighteen-year-old murmured, taking the suitcase and bag from the younger teenager, he left them by the door before leading Tony towards the living room where a bunch of noise was coming from. Pushing the silent genius onto the sofa, Steve wandered away in search of his guardian and adoptive father, Phil Coulson, leaving Tony in the hands of Clint, who was playing video games and Bruce, who had been reading before realising that Tony, a very good friend of his, despite the age difference, had joined them.

“Tony, are you alright?” Bruce asked as he walked over to the younger boy, hitting Clint on the way to grab his attention,

“I… I…” he stammered, he just couldn’t think of a single thing to say to his friend.

It wasn’t long before Phil walked into the lounge followed by Steve where they found the others gathered, at some point Natasha and Thor had joined. But, the genius hadn’t spoken to them, whenever he tried, the words froze in his throat, unable to come out. 

Upon noticing their adoptive father, the group of seniors quickly left the room, hoping the man they’d always looked up to and been able to talk to would be able to help the uncharacteristically quiet boy. 

**——LINE BREAK——**

“Tony,” his voice was calm and gentle, there was something about the way that Phil spoke that always got people to trust him, “will you tell me what’s happened, please?”

“I…” Tony tried but shook his head, burying his face in his hands. Releasing a silent sigh, Phil moved to sit beside Tony on the sofa, turning so that he faced the boy as he gently removed his hands from his face. Getting the boy to look at him was easy enough after that.

“You can trust me, Tony. I saw your bag and suitcase, I think I can guess what happened, but I need you to tell me,” a simple glance into distraught cinnamon eyes told Phil that Tony had cracked.

“He kicked me out…” Tony mumbled, “he said he would and… and he did.”

“Oh, Tony,” he whispered holding his arms out for the boy, who moved into them slowly and awkwardly, giving Phil enough time to back out if he wanted. Tony began to bawl his eyes out within a second of Phil wrapping his arms around the young boy and holding him close. 

As the tension in the boy’s body lessened and the crying began to quieten, Phil fell into his thoughts as he rubbed Tony’s back allowing the genius to exhaust himself with his tears and stress. He thought about what to do. He couldn’t do much against Howard Stark, but from what he’d seen and heard from his children, the man wasn’t nice and he definitely wasn’t father material. From what Tony had uttered, Phil believed it was entirely plausible that he’d been disowned by his family and not just kicked out.

**——LINE BREAK——**

“What’s the plan, dad?” Steve asked quietly, he was the oldest child in the house and the third that Phil had adopted a decade ago, 

“We’ll have to find space, but he can live here. Kid should know that he always has a place here,”

“What happened?” Thor questioned before being shushed as his voice was loud and made Tony stir ever so slightly, “my apologies” he added with a whisper,

“From the little he told me, I believe his _father_ has kicked him out and quite possibly disowned him,”

“What? Why?” Clint exclaimed somehow managing to keep it in a hushed tone,

“Because he’s a dick,” was Natasha’s response and Phil couldn’t help but agree with the redhead,

“I don’t quite know the full story yet, but Tony was clearly in shock and exhausted, so it’s best if we just let him sleep… umm, on the sofa, I’ll find a blanket-“  


“He can take my room, dad,” Clint offered and everyone narrowed their eyes as it was surprisingly generous of the archer, “hey, I can be nice!”

“No, you just want to sleep on the couch so you can play video games all night,” Phil stated, “but just for today, I’ll accept this,"  


“Really?” Clint exclaimed again, surprise crossing over his face, he hadn’t expected Phil to agree,

“Yes. Now, if one of you,” Phil gestured to Thor and Steve, “could take Tony to Clint’s room, which _better_ be clean, I’d appreciate it.”  


“For once, it actually is,” Bruce murmured having been in earlier that day as Steve picked the smaller and fast asleep boy up, Thor followed after grabbing Tony’s bag and suitcase.

**——LINE BREAK——**

He woke to a wave of agonising pain. It clung to his hips and crawled up his torso; he felt like he couldn’t breathe as the pain squeezed at his chest like a snake contracting around him. His body shook from the agony; he couldn’t move. He couldn’t even shout for help as nothing but breathless gasps left his mouth.

“Tony, are you okay?” Someone asked as they stepped into the slightly dark room, it was late in the evening, but not quite nighttime yet, 

“What’s wrong with him, Bruce?” Another asked as they stepped closer to Tony, who felt as though his chest was on fire,

“I’m not sure… Steve, go get dad,” Bruce stated before turning to Tony, “Tony can you breathe?”

“Yeah…” he choked, “hurts,” he added gesturing to his chest and torso. With soft but cold fingers, Bruce lifted Tony’s t-shirt up and gaped in horror at the sight hidden beneath the cotton. A rainbow of colours painted Tony’s skin; purples, blues, greens, yellows and blacks muddled across his torso like watercolours leaking and mixing together. 

“Bruce, what’s wrong?” Phil asked as he walked into the room before a silent gasp left his lips at the sight of the fourteen-year-old, “dear god, Tony why didn’t you say anything?” It was more of a rhetorical question as Tony could only release a whimper as he tried to sit up; with gentle hands, the two around him stopped him.

“I think he’s got some broken ribs,” Bruce murmured to his adoptive father, who nodded in agreement,

“Go get the first aid kit, oh and an ice pack if we have any and maybe update the others, Steve came down and caused a bit of a panic when he said that Tony was injured,” 

“Will do.”

**——LINE BREAK——**

“I grabbed some frozen peas,” Bruce announced as he walked back into the room, one handheld a bag of peas wrapped in a tea towel and the other gripped a decently sized first aid kit.

“Good lad,” Phil murmured before turning back to Tony, “now, I’ve felt around and found the break, it’s these two middle ribs; I don’t think you have to worry about it puncturing your lung, but that is something we need to watch for,” he placed the frozen food down on the swollen and bruised breaks causing Tony to hiss in pain, “Tony, do you know how long you’ve had these injuries for?”

“No… not really. I hadn’t even… I didn’t know I was injured,” the boy whispered as the cold seeped through the tea towel, his pain began to grow numb from the cold.

“I see. When was the last time your… _father_ hit you?”

“I… it… last night… it was only this morning that he said I was… that he had… had disowned me…” he stammered and grew a bit worried at the flash of anger that echoed through Phil (and Bruce’s) eyes,

“So you’ve probably had those broken ribs for no more than twenty-four hours,” Tony nodded, “how you didn’t feel them then, I don’t know,” Phil mumbled to himself, though he gathered it was probably from a mixture of fear, adrenaline and stress, “what I do know is that you shouldn’t have any pain-killers until it’s been forty-eight hours post-injury; if it’s really that bad, I can and will give you some, but there’s a possibility that medication will slow down your healing.”

“I’ll be fine without any,” Tony murmured shifting slightly.

“Okay. Now, what you _do_ need to do is try and breathe normally and cough if you need to; it’ll help prevent chest infections, I understand that it hurts a lot, but you’ve got to try, Tony. If you do need to cough, hold a pillow against your chest, it’ll help,” Phil stated as though he was reading the information of the internet and part of Tony wanted a piece of paper to take notes, “you need to rest, but you also need to walk around; moving your shoulders should help you breathe and clear mucus from your lungs. You should sleep more upright for the first few nights, you laying down like you were earlier was probably the cause of your breathlessness. Oh, and take ten slow but deep breaths every hour to help clear your lungs.”

“Dad, I think Tony gets it,” a new voice called from the doorway and they turned to find Clint along with the others standing there looking worried,

“Just trying to help,” 

“Thank you,” Tony whispered to Phil gratefully, “I really do appreciate your help.”

“Tony, you should know that you can always come here for help. For anything.”

“Thank you,” he could only whisper again.

**——LINE BREAK——**

His physical injuries healed painfully but without problem over the course of six weeks. In that time, Tony had been taken in by Phil, who had bought him a bed for in Steve’s room, which was the largest; the blond was perfectly fine with sharing with Tony. The press had been made aware of it mere days after Tony was kicked out about the disownment. He had been disinherited, none of the Stark fortune would end up in his hands once his parents kicked the bucket, though before he had been disowned, Tony had been smart enough to put some of his allowance to the side in case he was ever cut off. Foresight was a wonderful thing. 

Graduating at fourteen amongst a class of eighteen-year-olds had been intimidating; without Howard Stark backing him, Tony worried that he wouldn’t be able to get into university and if that was the case, what would he do? He was too young to work but he’d finished high school. Thankfully for Tony, despite being denounced by his father, he was a genius without the money. He received several scholarships from universities and colleges that wanted nothing more than to pick at the genius’ brain. He ended up going to MIT and at seventeen, Tony graduated once again as the youngest person in his class and top student. His friends went to colleges and universities all across the country, but they always remained in touch and during the holidays, they always went back home to spend time as a family with Phil.

Upon leaving MIT, the not-quite eighteen-year-old began to build his own company. One that would rival Stark Industries despite having nothing to do with weapons. Tony wanted to save the world; he was a futurist and a philanthropist. Soon enough he became a billionaire, smashing his father’s ‘millionaire’ status. Of course, there were problems. One of them being that his father wanted to forgive and forget the ‘disownment’ upon seeing his son’s success (and in typical Tony fashion, he told the man, who was nothing more than a sperm donor to him, to go fuck himself). 

**——LINE BREAK——**

“Happy birthday, Dad,” Tony murmured as he greeted Phil, who looked surprised. The genius had informed his make-shift family that he wouldn’t be able to make it for Phil’s fiftieth, yet there he was.

“How?”  


“I’m the boss,” he shrugged with a wink before he was pulled in for a hug by the ageing man; after Phil, the genius was swarmed by the rest of his family and passed around like a doll as everyone hugged him.

As he sat at the dinner table, he was quiet as he listened to everyone catching up. He felt content and happy. Tony had been through a lot in his younger years, but thanks to the men and woman surrounding him, he’d survived. Somewhere, deep down, Tony found himself grateful for the single ‘B’ grade he received in English Language that led to his disownment two decades ago.

**Author's Note:**

> [My tumblr](https://anxious---soul.tumblr.com) feel free to say hi or something!  
> 
> 
> Anyway,  
> Thank you for reading,  
> Hope you enjoyed this,  
> Please leave a kudos and a comment  
> 


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